UN warns flood aid facing huge obstacles

GENEVA (AFP) Fresh floods in southern Pakistan are snaring at least a million people displaced by earlier flooding, adding to the huge problems faced by the underfunded relief effort, UN aid agencies warned Friday. Major constraints continue to hamper rescue operations, making it impossible to deliver aid at the necessary speed, UN spokeswoman Corinne Momal-Vanian said, pointing to the huge scale of the disaster. The UNs Organisation for Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs said it was increasingly concerned by the situation in southern Sindh and Balochistan provinces. There are one million displaced people in Balochistan who fled Sindh, so these are perpetual movements of displaced people, bringing them help is more and more difficult, said OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs. Byrs said there was an urgent need for shelter, food and clean water, yet funding for the international relief was stagnant. The UN has received just 291 million of the 460 million dollars in funding it has appealed for, with a likely increase in the overall appeal due on Sep t17, Byrs underlined. Those financial constraints were adding to the logistical obstacles since some sectors are not receiving the necessary contributions, especially water and sanitation, she warned. The UN refugee agency said conditions in Balochistan were really desperate. We are seeing a persistent threat of waterborne disease, shortages of shelter and very limited quantities of food for children in southern Sindh, Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said.